Blind Trust

Binaural audio × Co-operative game play

Blind Trust is a two-player, co-op game where a deaf character leads a blind character through a low-poly, fantasy island using binaural audio.

We are 12 engineering, art, and production graduate students in the University of Utah's Entertainment Arts & Engineering making our thesis video game.

We stumbled across autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) videos on YouTube and fell in love with the idea of making a game centered around binaural audio (i.e. audio that relays not only location but also distance).

We iterated through many different game play ideas but were really inspired by a prototype where a second player could provide the binaural audio cues to the first player, instead of the environment. From there, we worked towards our current version of the game - a two-player experience where one player must provide binaural audio cues to the other to communicate, traverse environmental obstacles, and destroy enemies to get to an objective.

Play Blind Trust

Free Download

How to Connect

BE AWARE: You will only be able to connect via a LAN connection. Aside from being on the same network as your partner, you could also use a VPN service. There are free options such as Hamachi and Evolve.

Click Start.

Type in a name for your match if you are creating one (and then click Create Match) OR click Find Gameif your friend has already created a game.

If you created the game, choose to play as the Oracle or the Soldier character.

If you clicked Find Game you will see the list of possible games to join. In the Play As column you will see what character you will play if you join that match. Select the match you want and click Join.

Whether you created or found a match, once there are two players, click Join again, which will change your button to Ready. The game will being shortly!

How to Play

ORAClE (Must play with headphones)

Move around the island with WASD on your keyboard. Control the direction you move with your mouse cursor.

Listen for the ping of the Soldier in your headphones. Follow the direction of the ping to follow the Soldier through the level.

Left-click the mouse in the direction you hear the monster to reveal the monster to the Soldier.

Run into a key to collect it; the sound the keys make is the same sound the key gates make, so collect a key then listen for the same sound to place the key (with the help of the Soldier).

Soldier (must play with headphones)

Move around the island with WASD on your keyboard. Control the direction you move with your mouse cursor.

Press 'F' to place a sound beacon for the Oracle. She will hear that and will be able to follow the direction of the ping. Lead the Oracle through the level.

If the Oracle hears the growl of the monster, they will shoot it and reveal it to you. Left-click the mouse to shoot the monster and destroy it.

Monsters drop keys that only the Oracle can retrieve, and arrows for you to replenish your supply. Lead the Oracle with the key to the spinning gate to progress through the level.

Feedback

Thank you to everyone who has given us feedback! We are a student development team and have graduated! Woo hoo for us :D Active development will not continue on Blind Trust.

Be sure to check out the Steam Community Hub for advice on any issues other players may have faced and solved. Thank you!